The Devil's Cage

It was Zywane.

Although there was a blood-colored pattern on his face, the structure of his head and his clothes allowed Kieran to quickly recognize his hostile teammate.

The blood pattern on his face gave Kieran a very familiar feeling. Somehow it even felt a little cordial.

Kieran unconsciously stared at the pattern, his gaze suddenly making it come alive.

It was wriggling and crawling around like a blood-colored snake, and moving like one too.

The bloody snake raised its head and started hissing at Kieran with its tongue out.

Kieran’s eyes opened wide in shock . The snake’s head had appeared in front of him out of thin air, its tongue close to Kieran’s lips. A strong repulsed sensation flooded Kieran's heart, as if he had eaten something utterly disgusting. It was actually even worse than that.

Kieran quickly grabbed the snake’s head, feeling how slippery it was between his palms.

He wanted to toss the snake away or just crush the creature's head.

Contrary to Kieran’s expectations though, the snake’s head was quite hard, and it also had immense strength stored inside its body.

Kieran forgot about crushing its head, and just used his full force to toss the snake away.

The strange snake left Kieran’s hands slowly, its tongue still hissing at him.

After a certain distance, the snake disappeared into thin air, exactly the way it had appeared.

Suddenly, Lawless’s shout reached Kieran’s ears.

"2567, don’t look at his eyes! He's possessed, he's become a half-dead!"

Kieran turned his head around and saw Lawless looking at him with a slightly anxious expression. Kieran’s vision started to get wobbly, and he quickly shut his eyes and shook his head hard.

The wobbly feeling faded with the motion as a couple of notifications popped up in his vision.

[Player Zywane is dead!]

[Fear: You are in the area of influence of your enemy’s Fear. Your Spirit has passed the test. No abnormalities have been detected...]

[Delusion: You have fallen under the influence of your enemy's illusions. Your Spirit has passed the test. Your Intuition has passed the test. The illusions will not cause any real damage anymore...]

"What happened? What’s a half-dead?" Kieran asked Lawless quickly as he came back to his senses.

He kept in mind Lawless words and did not stare at Zywane’s dead body anymore.

"A half-dead is a kind of monster that has come back from the dead after its body has been possessed by someone! They have abnormal strength, and their bodies are very hard to penetrate with regular guns and knifes. But the worst thing is, when you face one, they might cause you Fear or Delusion. Especially the latter one. If you die under the influence of their illusions, you die for real!"

"Just a common Grand Demonic Heptagram could not have possibly created a monster like this! Something must have gone really wrong without our knowledge! Goddamn it, what the hell did Zywane do? How could this happen in a fourth-time dungeon?" Lawless told Kieran as he ranted.

The appearance of the half-dead seemed to have made him really worried.

"Where should it have happened then?" Kieran asked as he looked at the half-dead out of the corner of his eye.

The monster was standing on the hole created by the rocket launcher, letting the sunlight shine down on it. The bloody pattern on its face looked even more evil.

That feeling of evilness was very unsettling to Kieran. He felt that even the sunlight had turned cold because of it.

He thought he was looking at a stranger's face.

Gilfren Hatch. That's right, it was his face Kieran was seeing on the half-dead.

Kieran’s mind flooded with the information he had recently read on Gilfren Hatch. The picture in Gilfren Hatch's file looked exactly the same as the face of the half-dead.

"So, he did not really die?" Kieran thought.

Lawless answered hastily, "In a sixth-time dungeon at least! During my sixth dungeon, the same kind of monster played an important role! It's the type of monster I hate the most! Goddammit, is it provoking me?"

Just as Lawless was answering Kieran’s question, the zombie stood on the building and made a cut-throat sign with its right index finger, looking at the two of them.

Lawless replied right away.

A rocket missile with a flame trail headed towards the half-dead.

The missile exploded on its target, the flame engulfing the half-dead completely.

"That'll teach you some manners! I’m not the same person I used to be anymore! Stay here, I’ll go deal with that assh*le!"

Lawless spit out his cigar on the ground before kissing his [Tekken-II] like a dear lover, not giving a damn about its hot temperature.

He gave some advice to Starbeck before he ran towards the main building of the prison.

He did not climb up like Kieran had. Carrying his huge backpack, he jumped up from the ground and reached the second floor window in one try. Then he quickly stepped on the window ledge with his feet and, using all his strength, he did a backflip and entered the third floor through the hole created by the rocket launcher.

Kieran followed, in awe of Lawless’s strength and body synchronization. He was still feeling amazed by the seven-timer as he climbed up to the third floor using his hands and legs.

Kieran had been very surprised by the appearance of the half-dead, but he wasn't feeling afraid. He was only unsettled at worst.

After that feeling had subsided, Kieran felt eager to face the half-dead.

Both Zywane’s death and the half-dead's appearance were tied to a huge secret, and within that secret, Kieran’s instinct could pick up the smell of money.

Although Zywane’s death was a sign that this was something extremely dangerous, Kieran still did not back down. He had already stared death in the eye. He was not going to get scared by some possessed dead man.

After all, he had been alone in facing death in real life. He wasn't going to be afraid now that he had a reliable ally like Lawless. By Lawless' expression, Kieran could tell that he was ninety percent certain that he could defeat the half-dead. Its difficulty had undoubtedly already been reduced.

When Kieran pushed himself up to the breach on the third floor, he could not see Lawless anymore. It seemed like he had gone chasing after the half-dead.

Automatically, Kieran activated his [Tracking], ready to catch up with Lawless and the zombie by following their tracks. However, what he saw instead was the Grand Demonic Heptagram magic circle.

"Huh?"

Kieran inspected the Grand Demonic Heptagram and was surprised by his discovery.

The Grand Demonic Heptagram before him and the one he'd had in mind were different.

Translator's Thoughts

Dess Dess

Probably the first player to die...